Universal SEND Services - Peer Mentoring for school leaders

Universal SEND Services is an ambitious programme, funded until 2025 by the Department for Education and delivered by nasen, through the Whole School SEND (WSS) consortium, in strategic partnership with the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) and the Autism Education Trust (AET).

It provides practitioners – whatever their role or career stage – with free access to quality-assured training, information and resources.

There are a range of learning journeys available – from Short Hops to Round the World and everything in between, depending on how much time is available to you, and the depth at which you’d like to work.

One of our more involved strands of work – and one which has produced some of the most significant and tangible results – focuses on peer mentoring for school leaders. To qualify for participation in this project area, a setting must have received a judgement of Requires Improvement (RI) from Ofsted, with SEND identified as an area for development.

Leaders are approached and offered support in developing a strategy for improving practice for SEND that reflects the needs of the workforce and their learners. Jane Starbuck, Regional SEND Leader (RSL) in the East Midlands, explains: “By the time I engage with settings as part of this project, they are already at different stages of a journey. None stand still following on from an inspection, but there are many different responses. One thing they have in common is a sense of vulnerability – these are leaders who work incredibly hard and need help to rebuild their self-belief.

“As a Peer Mentor my first task is always to actively listen to the leaders’ concerns and challenges. I have seen a SENCO ready to resign and another whose confidence had been completely destroyed. Together, we have been able to ensure that strategic plans have clear priorities and focus, with the ultimate intent being that SEND is recognised as everyone’s responsibility.”

The mentorship of Jane and the other RSLs involved has produced unequivocally positive results. Of the 32 mainstream settings who have taken part, nine have been reinspected by Ofsted and are now deemed to be ‘good’ schools, where provision for learners with SEND has improved.

One such school is Gossey Lane Academy, one of seven academies that make up the Washwood Heath Multi Academy Trust in Birmingham. The school is in an area of high deprivation, many different languages are spoken and there is a higher-than-average number of pupils on pupil premium, some of whom are transient.

Following a disappointing Ofsted in January 2023, the school was already reviewing its graduated approach, pupil passports had been amended and high quality, inclusive classroom practice was being prioritised using the EEF’s 5 a day as a support tool.

The SENCO, Romana Tariq – already a member of nasen – was extremely open to an invitation to work with our West Midlands RSL, Alison Parr. They were joined by the school’s leadership team and the Director of Primary for the MAT at six meetings during which Ofsted’s recommendations (in terms of SEND provision) were reflected on.

Alison helped the team to work through the report and address each area of concern. She shared resources – the Teacher Handbook: SEND and the Preparation for Adulthood audit tool being of particular value. They worked to develop support for teachers of non-core subjects, especially where it was not their area of expertise. Together, they reviewed existing processes for collection and sharing of data and they looked at how information was being used. 

In the final session, Alison was joined by Malcolm Reeve, National SEND Leader, for an insightful session to demonstrate how knowledge of national SEND data enables leaders to ask far more probing questions at a school and MAT level.

In May 2024, Gossey Lane received an Ofsted monitoring visit to assess progress in the areas identified as needing improvement. Where previously the school had been criticised for its SEND provision, the monitoring visit found that “this aspect of the school’s work has been transformed”.

They were also praised for:

• The SENCO’s actions in working closely with all staff to ensure that pupils’ needs are accurately identified, understood and met.
• Delivering training for staff to help improve their understanding of how best to support learners with SEND in their learning. These pupils get the support they need and enjoy learning alongside their peers in the classroom.
• Making the most of external support and challenge, and working collaboratively with external advisers.

Speaking of their experience of working with Whole School SEND, the Gossey Lane leadership team said:

“SEND provision at Gossey Lane is a priority.  We were keen to work with Alison Parr to further develop our practice and ensure that all of our teachers are confident teachers of SEND and have the skills and expertise to deliver quality first inclusive classroom practice in all subject areas.  Through the peer mentoring project we were able to share and develop the bespoke CPD and real life examples, pertinent to Gossey Lane.  This collaboration has certainly supported us moving forward in our journey.”

Gossey Lane is just one of a significant number of settings who have enjoyed bespoke support from our RSLs, and we have high hopes that this success will continue well into the next year of the programme.

We’ve shown that with the right guidance and constructive challenge, we can identify practical strategies to move forward towards a workforce who are empowered with the skills and confidence to deliver an education experience that works for all learners in their settings.